Past Partners
by Al Evans
Summary: Mary Jane and Glory Grant meet for a casual lunch date. Surely nothing personal will come to light? Right?


_This story occurs an indeterminate amount of time in the future and is very much tongue in cheek ;)_

_Please leave a review as you pass by since I'm very keen for feedback._

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><p>Mary Jane strode into the coffee shop and scanned the tables feverishly. She caught sight of someone waving in a booth by the window and hurried over.<p>

The occupant of the booth smiles up at her a little bit uncertainly as MJ shook her head and parked herself onto the seat opposite.

"Glory, hi. I'm _so_ sorry I'm late." She said in a rushed breath.

"No problem MJ. Are you okay though you look less together than usual." Asked Glory Grant.

"Well that's because I was trying to get here as fast as I could to make our lunch date. And because I wasn't that together when I caught sight of the time."

"How come?"

"Oh...well...I, um...I was with Peter..."

Glory seemed confused by this.

"So? Why would being with Peter...oh..." Comprehension dawned. MJ for her part looked slightly embarrassed but also wore a little smile too.

"Yeah...It...It's been kinda awhile for both of us."

Glory's confusion returned, along with her uncertain look as well as some of her own embarrassment.

"Oh...I...I thought...you and that Bobby Carr guy were-"

"No." MJ cut in curtly.

"Me and Bobby...we stayed at each other's places and weren't...shy, around one another. But we never...we never actually did anything."

Glory was surprised to hear this after what she'd gleamed from tabloids and whatnot. She knew it would be more polite to move on, but having worked with journalists for as long as she had some of their inquiring curiosity had unfortunately rubbed off on her.

"...Do...do you mind if I ask why?" She said tentatively. MJ didn't say anything for a second or two whilst she made up her mind. Eventually though she responded.

"Well...off the record and strictly between you and me, the drugs Bobby was abusing gave him some...problems..."

Glory almost winced, but managed to control herself and instead her eyes just widened slightly.

"I don't think I wanna know more."

Mercifully a waiter came over at that point to take thier order. However, after ordering thier coffees that same curiosity swept over Glory again and before she knew it she was prying yet again.

"Were...were there problems with Pedro too?"

MJ tilted her head slightly and then shrugged.

"Well...yeah, but...not like with Bobby."

"Oh..."

Glory was feeling rather bad about now for putting Mary Jane on the spot like this and was desperately searching around for something to change to subject to, her eyes darting across the coffee shop and out the window. However to her surprise MJ continued after a few seconds.

"With Pedro it was more my problem than his."

Glory's eyes snapped back to MJ who was looking down at the table. As she lifted her head to meet Glory's eyes, Glory was struck with the impression MJ maybe wasn't as reluctant to talk about this stuff as she initially thought.

"I think deep down we both knew that we were only together because I was on a rebound and he reminded me of Peter. So whenever we tried to take things further one of us always put the brakes on. I guess neither of us were really comfortable doing anything like that when we knew our relationship was a lie."

MJ continued to stare at Glory, looking for...what? Reassurance. Sympathy. Harsh words. Glory wasn't sure. All she could think about was how she hadn't expected a causal little lunch date to turn out like this.

"That...I don't really know what to say about that MJ." It was about the best Glory could muster. MJ shrugged again.

"Well...you can call me an idiot if you want."

Both women continued to stare at each other for a second before snorting and beginning to chuckle slightly. About this time their waiter returned with their drinks and they cheerfully sipped away at them for few minutes. Eventually putting her cup down and staring into it MJ, more upbeat than before, continued.

"But seriously though, I wasted so much time being with someone _like_ Peter, when I could've spent it with the _actual _Peter. And while I was doing that I was being unfair to Pedro too. He didn't deserve that. He was a good guy. A real good guy."

Glory nodded approvingly.

"He seemed that way to me. Good luck to the guy." She raised her cup and MJ did the same

"Yeah. Him and Ms. Marconi too." They bumped their drinks together and took sips. After a minute or so, Glory put her cup down again and leaned back in her seat slightly.

"Does Peter talk about her much?"

"No, not really." Said, MJ shaking her head.

"Peter...wasn't really himself, when they were together."

"That's an understatement!" Glory snorted.

"You know once, after I'd heard you two had broken up I was gonna call him to see how he was. I mean the other times you two had split he'd been pretty down. I couldn't believe it when Betty told me _he'd_ ended it, so I just let it lie. I tried reaching you too, but I guess we just missed each other."

"Between the chaos at my club and Pedro and everything else at that time, I was pretty preoccupied."

"I'm not surprised. I did leave a message with your roommate though. Guess you never got it."

"Carlie?" MJ said inquisitively.

"Oh, she isn't the best with messages. Keeping in contact with her hasn't been easy."

"You know I really admire you for that." Said Glory.

"Personally I wouldn't be too keen to keep in touch with the ex of whoever I was with, let alone room with them."

"It was kinda weird to be honest. One night early on we sort of got things all out in the open and then things became easier."

Glory leaned in slightly as she took another sip of her drink.

"Still...back when you and Peter first got back together after that craziness with Doc Ock, wasn't it weird whenever Peter stayed over? I mean you'd both-"

MJ cut Glory off again.

"Oh, back then Peter and I never did anything. And besides, Carlie and him never did either."

Glory almost dropped her cup as she hastily swallowed the liquid already in her mouth.

"...Seriously?!" She exclaimed. MJ nodded.

"Yeah, she told me that night. They tried a few times but apparently Peter just never felt comfortable going all the way."

"Did he ever say why?" Asked Glory, only vaguely acknowledging at the back of her mind she was prying again.

"No. But from what Carlie told me it might've had something to do with that Michelle woman he was staying with when his aunt married Jameson's Dad."

"He had a bad experience with her?"

"The worst apparently. She seemed to have a few screws loose if you know what I mean." MJ put her index finger to her head and made circular motions.

"She'd got him convinced they'd hooked up one night when he'd passed out before anything happened, but she was still acting as if he'd like taken advantage of her or something."

This time Glory really did wince.

"Yeesh...that's a pretty messed up thing to do."

"Heh, yeah...but I've got one better." Said MJ leaning in and smirking mischievously.

"This stays between us but...okay. You know how Peter has his ear clued into the super hero scene?"

Glory leaned in now.

"Yeah..."

MJ lowered her voice to a hushed tone.

"Well, he told me a certain costumed crime fighter was taken advantage of by one of their exes. Only it wasn't their ex at all. It was some telepathic shape shifter who mind controlled them into doing thier whatever they wanted for a few hours at a time."

"Holy! That _is_ messed up!" Glory said in a shocked whisper.

"You mean this person made the costumed guy like...sleep with them or something?"

MJ shook her head.

"No. Just help them commit a few crimes under the radar, then they made them think the whole time they'd been, you know...doing _other_ stuff together. They even arranged a bedroom with appropriate _decoration_ just to be extra convincing."

Glory's mouth was open, appalled at what she'd heard.

"MJ...why hasn't Peter told anyone else this. This is a real scoop!"

MJ's eyes widened in what seemed to be fear, and she became flustered.

"Oh...Well...uh...he...he _knows_ the costumed guy involved and is even friendly with the person the shape shifter was impersonating. Guess a black cat crossed their paths because it was bad luck for both of them. Peter only found this out recently and didn't want to sell out the people he knew."

"Jeez, more like bad luck for him then." Said, Glory leaning backwards and talking normally again.

"If he had less of a moral compass he could make some serious money off a story like that."

"Yeah well, if he _was_ that sort of guy I'm not sure I'd like him all that much."

"Wish I could meet someone like that."

"I'm sure you will Glory. I know things didn't work out with Randy, but you haven't had _that_ much bad luck in your love life."

Glory raised an eyebrow at Mary Jane.

"You're forgetting Eduardo..."

MJ suddenly realised what she'd said and looked besides herself.

"Oh...I'm...I'm sorry Glory I didn't mean-

"Don't worry Mary Jane. Mr. Lobo is long in the past. I can...I can talk about it now."

MJ still looked apologetic.

"Well...that's good..."

They both sat in silence for about a minute before MJ began to talk again tentatively.

"So...Was it...weird, being with Eduardo at all?"

Glory remained silent for a second or two, before deciding she probably owed MJ this.

"Kinda...especially on those full moons..."

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><p>The End<p> 


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